Part 1, Chapters 6 and 7 Summary

Ramu's sister, and one of Uma's favorite cousins, Anamika, is promised in marriage to a man much older than the bride-to-be. Uma and Aruna are struck with disappointment for the beautiful Anamika to be tied to someone so seemingly unsuitable for such a girl, on whom fortune has always smiled. It is clear at the wedding ceremony that the bridegroom and his mother feel superior to Anamika's family, but require Anamika's beauty to further the groom's social and business future.

Before long, the family hears of Anamika's trying life in Bombay with her new family. Anamika's mother-in-law requires Anamika to clean and cook constantly and, in her spare moments, to rub her mother-in-law's feet. There is also news that Anamika suffers a miscarriage after receiving a beating at the hands of her husband, leaving her barren for life. Although Uma wishes that Anamika...